I read something on Twitter recently that made my jaw hit the floor. It was written by leading real estate author, visionary, observer and commentator Stefan Swanepoel, and it said this: “Only 27% of Realtors surveyed by 56 local Realtors Assocn listed RE as their primary source of income…illustrates problem we have.”

Wow.

Unbelievable.

I mean, seriously, 27%?

That means that 73% – nearly 3 out of 4! – Realtors are making their primary income from a source other than real estate.

Has there ever been another career – IN RECORDED HISTORY! – where such a high percentage of the real estate industry’s participants are not really… participating?

If you read this blog at all, you know that the PRIMARY things we talk about are “raising the bar” (the now infamous #RTB) and “increasing professionalism and excellence” within the real estate space.

Our company was created specifically to do these things.

Having said that, I don’t think many logical, rational people would argue that having such a high percentage of people in our industry working on anything less than a 100% basis is a problem. And quite possibly a very big problem.

In fact, our experience has shown that *most* successful Realtors typically work more than a 40 hour work week. Many work FAR more than that (we do!).

And PLEASE let us be clear: we do not in any way mean to disparage or make light of the brutal economy that has devastated so many Americans, both within and outside of real estate.

But we believe that having people “dabble” in real estate will only only serve to take the already poor opinion of real estate professionals even lower. Real estate is – as much if not more so – the most “around the clock/nearly 24-7/always on” business there is.

How can people be out of touch and out of pocket for any period of time and serve their clients properly? The obvious answer to that question: they can’t.

So, fellow real estate professionals, what do you think about this?

Should something be done about this?

CAN something be done about this?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, comments and opinions on this important issue…

Join the conversation here.